Zechariah sees two lampstands, two bowls for the oil to keep
them lit and then two olive trees, one on each side, providing a perpetual
source of fuel. There will come a time
when there is no shortage of God's spirit, the same vision Joel saw when the
Spirit would be poured out on all flesh.
Zechariah saw, without really knowing what he was seeing, the outpouring
of the Spirit we know as Pentecost. The promise was that neither by might nor
power but by my Spirit. What would be
done in that way? In context it would
mean that Zerubbabel, the governor who oversaw the rebuilding of the temple
when the exiles returned to Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus, king of Persia,
would indeed complete this work. At the
time it looked like a task too formidable for those who had returned from
Babylon, a day of small things. The sons
of oil refer either to Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua or to Zechariah
and Haggai, the two prophets of this period who, like Aaron and Hur, who held
up the hands of Moses in the nation's first military victory against the
Amalekites, would encourage and build up those who worked to rebuild the
temple. We need spiritual strength to do
spiritual work. We are building the
kingdom without a temple, without walls, an eternal kingdom, a spiritual
kingdom and that needs spiritual resources.
As you likely are aware I believe that this paralysis was a
result of sin in this man's life. This
is the only place where Jesus forgave sins prior to healing someone and for
that reason I believe the healing required forgiveness first. Sometimes our infirmities are due to sin
either directly or indirectly and the deeper need is forgiveness. Jesus didn't proclaim this for the simple
provocation of the leaders, He did that which was necessary. He truly extended forgiveness to the man,
forgiveness from God. As with the
healing of the leper from earlier this week Jesus added something to the
healing that wasn't apparently necessary.
With the leper it was touch, that which was denied a leper, and here it
is forgiveness. We can take forgiveness
for granted sometimes, forgetting how wonderful it is to receive it and not
receiving the healing of our souls it brings.
Spiritual healing comes from forgiveness of sins and that is the greater
healing. God alone can forgive sins,
just as they suggest by saying Jesus was blaspheming, but the physical healing
confirmed that Jesus had the spiritual power to proclaim forgiveness. He was connected to the source.
Jesus is the light of the world. Paul implores the Ephesians to not be like
the Gentiles, an odd term to use, meaning nothing more than, others, those
without Christ in this context. Paul
says they are in darkness and reminds the Ephesians and us that we are have
understanding because we have Christ so our lives are to be different, we have
been made new, like the paralytic. We
received forgiveness of sin but we also received His Spirit. Abiding in Him looks like the vision
Zechariah saw, connected to the source of power and light. Sin cuts us off from the flow of oil, the
Spirit, and when we are cut off we have no power.
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